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WHAT ABOUT CANADIAN HEALTH CARE Premier Danny Williams is a

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Heart surgery to sideline N.L. premier for weeks

Prognosis 'very, very good,' acting premier says
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 | 11:07 AM ET
CBC News

Premier Danny Williams is at an undisclosed location in the U.S. preparing to have heart surgery. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams will be sidelined from three to 12 weeks because of heart surgery he'll undergo at an undisclosed location in the United States, acting premier Kathy Dunderdale says.

Williams, 60, travelled to the U.S. on Monday on the advice of his doctors after weeks of consultations, Dunderdale said.

"I'm not going into the details of the premier's condition," she told reporters at a news conference in St. John's on Tuesday morning. "Any heart surgery is serious. However, his prognosis is very, very good."

Dunderdale said the surgery would happen this week but refused to provide specifics on the day or where Williams is being treated, other than to say he has "gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done."

She also wouldn't say whether Williams could have had the procedure performed in the province or elsewhere in Canada.

"Having the surgery done in the province was never an option that was offered to him," Dunderdale said.

"Ultimately, we have to be the gatekeepers of our own health, and he has taken medical advice from a number of different sources," she said. "Based on all of the medical advice that he's received, he is doing what is best for him, to do everything he can to ensure that he can have the best outcome from the surgery and that he can be back on his feet and back here doing his job as quickly as possible."

Dunderdale said Williams will speak about the procedure and his decision to go to the U.S. for treatment when he recovers.

"The premier has made a commitment that once he is through this procedure and he is well enough, he's going to talk about the whole process and share as much detail as he's comfortable doing at that time."

The CEO of Eastern Health, the province's largest health authority, tried to dispel any notion that Williams left the province because of a lack of faith in the province's -- or Canada's -- health-care system.

"There's no question that this is not a queue-jumping issue," Vickie Kaminski told reporters.

She said patient confidentiality restricts her from discussing the specifics of Williams' heart condition or the kind of medical procedure he will undergo. However, she confirmed the premier had all of his diagnostic work and tests done at Eastern Health.

"He certainly has told us that he was very satisfied with the care that he received," she said.

Kaminski said it was his doctors who suggested Williams leave the province for treatment.

"The recommendations from his physician were for referrals outside. The premier has done what he was recommended."

Kaminski said people shouldn't view his decision to seek medical help elsewhere as a condemnation of Canada's medical health system.

"It could be something as simple as a slightly new technique that's being tried that gives a speedy recovery and that's not yet approved in Canada," she said.

Kaminski said it might also be a procedure that can't be performed for whatever reason by medical professionals in the province.

Doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador refer two patients a month to physicians outside the province, depending on the medical condition. Kaminski said about 50 people are on a waiting list for heart surgery -- down dramatically from two years ago -- and the amount of time those people have to wait is medically acceptable.

Dunderdale will be acting premier until Williams returns to the job.
 

Tam

Well-known member
N.L. premier's U.S. heart surgery sparks health-care debate
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Doctors unsure why Williams would go to U.S. for heart surgery

Supporters and critics of Canada's health-care system have found themselves in a new debate sparked by the decision of a provincial premier to seek heart surgery in the United States.


The Newfoundland government said Tuesday that Premier Danny Williams would be absent for a few weeks after his doctors recommended he travel to the U.S. for a heart procedure.


As Conservative pundits in the U.S. quickly pounced on the news, suggesting it proved that President Barack Obama's proposed health insurance reforms wouldn't work, some Canadian analysts agreed that it highlighted the weaknesses of Canada's health-care network.


"Think about the absurdity about Canadians spending their income on medical treatment outside the country because it's not provided here at home," said Brett Skinner, president of the Fraser Institute, the Vancouver-based free-market think-tank.


Newfoundland deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale told reporters that Williams' doctors recommended he seek treatment in the U.S. after weeks of consultations, but did not give details about his condition or the procedure he would undergo.


But medicare advocates said that cases such as Williams or the late former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa, who sought cancer treatment in the U.S., represent only a tiny fraction of all Canadian patients who receive medical care.


"I think it is really premature and unfortunate for any group or individual to interpret the fact that he's having something done outside the country as a judgment on the Canadian health-care system when we don't know what he's having done or his reasons for going south," said Danielle Martin, a family doctor and board member of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, in an interview.


But Skinner, who has a PhD in political science and public policy, said that Williams is just one among thousands of Canadians who seek health-care services every year down south because of long waiting lists and poor access here.


"It's not like we lack the medical knowledge and technology and science to provide these things — we just don't have a system that allows our providers to meet market demands. Our ban on private finance and our ban on competitive for-profit delivery of publicly funded goods and services is a huge barrier to doing those things, to providing for the needs of Canadian patients."

A recent analysis by the Fraser Institute estimated that 41,000 Canadians were forced to seek health-care services for non-emergency treatments in 2009. But some say those figures are misleading, arguing that many can get reimbursed by the Canadian system while the vast majority of patients get the services they need at home.


Maude Barlow, national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, a social democratic advocacy group, noted that members of her own family have recently undergone heart surgery and cancer treatments in Canada and received the best services available.


"The Fraser Institute consistently fails to remember that close to 50 million Americans have no access to health care at all," she said. "You get sick, you lose your job, you lose your health care, you lose your house. Half the bankruptcies in the United States are because people cannot pay their medical bills."




Read it on Global News: N.L. premier's U.S. heart surgery sparks health-care debate

But some say those figures are misleading, arguing that many can get reimbursed by the Canadian system while the vast majority of patients get the services they need at home.
Not in Sask you leave you pay, even if it is a heart attack and your closest hospital is in the US. And I guess just because the majority get service we should just forget the 41,000 that don't. :???:

According to the Heart Institute in Ottawa we have the medical knowledge, technology and science to provide everything the US does. So why is Williams in the US having surgery? My bet ACCESS.

The Fraser Institute consistently fails to remember that close to 50 million Americans have no access to health care at all," she said. "You get sick, you lose your job, you lose your health care, you lose your house. Half the bankruptcies in the United States are because people cannot pay their medical bills."

First if they have Medical Bills then they HAD ACCESS.

Second what Maude Barlow, national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, a social democratic advocacy group, fails to remember is according to even Obama 30 million don't have access to INSURANCE which if you really look at it ,a few million in the 30 can afford it they just don't want it.

Third Is it not true to say everyone has access to health care as it can not be denied under US law? In Canada we have access to a waiting list, that Mr Williams didn't want to sit on so he bypassed it by going to the US just like 41,000 other Canadians had to in 2009. Even our Supreme Court said "Access to a waiting list is not access to health care".
 
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